In the railway industry, railcars require routine inspection and maintenance in order to keep them in safe working conditions. As used herein, the term “railcar” refers to any of a variety of railroad vehicles including but not limited to locomotives, tender vehicles, and railroad cars, which may be used for freight, passenger, and/or switching applications. Each railcar typically includes a number of undercarriage components or equipment, such as wheels, traction motors, air brakes, compressed air units, and traction sanding devices, which are located in an undercarriage assembly below the railcar platform. Since these undercarriage components are crucial to the safe and efficient operation of the railcar, most, if not all, of them have to be routinely inspected and some need to be replaced or serviced on a regular basis. For example, air brake valves and/or portions thereof are swapped out for services and then re-installed according to a maintenance schedule. Typically, most of the railcar maintenance work is performed manually by skilled mechanics.
Unfortunately, many of the undercarriage components are quite heavy and/or tugged away in hard-to-reach locations, making it difficult to remove or re-install those components. With conventional tools and methods, it often requires significant efforts of multiple workers to remove or re-install each piece of undercarriage components. When a component is being positioned or extracted, one or more of the maintenance workers may have to operate in an awkward position and expend a significant amount of energy to maneuver the heavy component into its designated location. During the process, accidents could easily occur, injuring the worker(s) and/or damaging the component.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there are significant problems and shortcomings associated with current tools and methods for railcar maintenance.